


Fall Where They May

by deedeeinfj



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 04:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8387995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deedeeinfj/pseuds/deedeeinfj
Summary: Phryne wants more from Jack than he seems willing to risk.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fire_Sign](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Sign/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Things You Said](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6842407) by [Fire_Sign](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Sign/pseuds/Fire_Sign). 



> A continuation of [ chapter 25](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6842407/chapters/19121566), specifically. She likes to torture us, and I reward her for it. Something is wrong with this system...

Their next murder investigation brought them together four days later. Crime scene, morgue, interrogations.

Nightcap.

Jack regarded her from his place - _one of his places_ , she thought - at her mantel as if no time had passed at all, as if half the globe hadn't separated them for months. As if the conversation at his house hadn't broken something she thought they'd built.

"Was I the only one surprised by your return, or did you send word to the others?" he asked. He was at ease and smiling, no indications of ill will.

"I had to alert the household, of course. Mr. Butler and Dot. And I told Mac."

"You returned much sooner than any of us expected," he observed.

"Yes," she replied with emphasis. "After I learned that there was no reason to extend my stay, I didn't want to waste a moment."

"I couldn't go after you."

"So you said the other night."

"No, you don't understand. I actually couldn't go. I asked for the time away. I checked my accounts. It wasn't possible."

Phryne set her empty glass of wine aside and joined him at the mantel. "When I told you to come after me, I didn't mean I expected you to drop everything and sail to England. I hoped, of course, but I am a practical woman under all this." She fingered the jeweled necklace at her throat. "Come after me right now. Here I am."

"We talked about this," he said in a quiet voice, looking away.

"But we didn't!" Her own burst of feeling surprised her, but she _did_ feel it, and she went with it. "You told me what your place was without asking me. You told me what you can hope to mean to me without asking me what you actually mean to me. You told me that I don't really want to change your mind--"

"No, I asked you if you wanted to change my mind, and you said nothing."

"What could I say, Jack, when you had already decided for me?"

Jack paced away from the mantel, then turned around to look at her. " _Do_ you want to change my mind?"

"Before last night, I didn't know I had to change it. I thought you had changed your mind that night at the observatory, and I believe I told you that I wanted it more than anything. What happened?"

"What happened to your 'dashing, assertive inspector'?" he asked, repeating her own words.

"Yes!"

He returned to stand by her. "I kissed you, and you were gone, and I felt empty, Phryne. Even though I knew you would return, I felt as if the air had been punched out of my lungs. And I realized how much more painful it would be if we were lovers for a time. You would move on, and I would have to see you and work with you every day, knowing exactly what I'd lost."

"And because you assume you know your place with me and what you mean to me, you feel certain that I would move on. That's not gambling, Jack. That's deciding the outcome before you've even played." She gave him a moment to respond; when he didn't, she stepped away. "I'm going to bed. You're welcome to finish your drink and show yourself out."

She expected those words again: "Please, stay." She hoped for them again. But, again, he must have decided they weren't his place.

She ascended the stairs and closed herself in her room, leaning on the door for a few seconds to collect her thoughts before she threw off her clothes and slid into her embroidered black robe.

_Coward_ , she thought. _Jack Robinson, you miserable, cowardly martyr. You--_

There was a soft knock on her door, and she cracked it open, expecting Mr. Butler to tell her that the Inspector had left. But it was Jack standing on the other side. His hair stood on end as if he'd raked his hand through it roughly.

"Tell me what it would mean to you if my place included your bed," he said, glancing at the fixture in question with dark eyes. "What I would mean to you."

"Then you would be my partner in everything, not only work and friendship."

"Sex."

"Love."

She opened the door all the way, and he went after her.


End file.
